Category: News

How do disturbances in our ecosystems spread and cascade across landscapes? David Garcia-Callejas is an ecologist working at the University of Canterbury with our Crazy & Ambitious Think Tank – and puzzles like this are his speciality.

A Tranche 1 BioHeritage project has attracted over $2.7 million in funding for its spin-off programmes – the AUT Living Laboratories Programme and the Farming with Native Biodiversity pilot.

A recent study into Pūniu River Care Inc. found that there is “an urgent need for kaupapa Māori led and designed organisations” such as PRC within environmental management in Aotearoa to have “longer term impact”.

We welcome Nathan Matamua, a Master’s student at Massey University, to Empowering Kaitiakitanga & Environmental Stewardship (SO2). He will be investigating alternative ways of expressing and caring for water resources using the stars as a guide.

Karla Carey has arrived in environmental stewardship through growing her passion for psychology and her interest in her Māori culture. We welcome Karla, a Master’s student at Massey University, to the Empowering Kaitiakitanga & Environmental Stewardship team.

The Eco-index Biodiversity Dashboards have successfully qualified as a Digital Public Good with the international Digital Public Goods Alliance – the first to do so from Aotearoa New Zealand. This is an outstanding achievement and a win for open-source collaboration in international conservation.

Waimirirangi Ormsby (Waikato, Ngātiwai) is our newly appointed Kaiārahi (Knowledge Broker Māori). Waimirirangi met with BioHeritage writer Kerry Donovan Brown to share her vision for her Kaiārahi role. In doing so she reflected on the ways she is shaped by her connection with Aotearoa, and the Aotearoa she’s helping shape for her descendants.

The Kauri Ora and Myrtle Ora community meetings are hui ā-ipurangi (virtual meetings) open to the public, where regional councils, researchers and communities give updates on operations and on the science on these two pathogens. Resources are shared, questions are posed, and connections are made all across Aotearoa. For the September hui, the Kauri Ora platform uplifted a special exhibition showcasing the knowledge and artistry of some of our youngest environmental kaitiaki (guardians).  

The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) is teaming up with the Eco-index programme to develop remote-sensing technology for quantifying native biodiversity on sheep farms.

Izzy Busby is passionate about science accessibility. She is harnessing her passion in a new role as research fellow for Novel Tools and Strategies – Supporting PF2050. In this role, she will be developing a software tool to help communities make decisions about invasive mammalian predator control.

Time for a swap within Theme 4! With former co-lead Dr Dean Anderson moving into research for Integrated Surveillance, researcher, Cecilia Arienti-Latham, will be joining Waitangi Wood in the co-leadership role. Cecilia gives us insight into her experience working on the theme.

Susanna Finlay-Smits is a social scientist at AgResearch who works across numerous BioHeritage programmes. She brings a unique perspective and background to all of her mahi.

BioHeritage welcomes a new Master’s student, Robbie Maris, to Strategic Objective 2: Empowering Kaitiakitanga & Environmental Stewardship. Robbie will be working to empower individuals to participate in activities that promote urban freshwater biodiversity.

On 2 August, the National Pest Management Plan for the protection of kauri (NPMP) came into force. The NPMP establishes clear objectives and a consistent approach for managing the risk of Phytophthora agathidicida across Aotearoa.

Accoladed scientist and author Jared Diamond has said that the closest human beings have come to visiting an alien planet was when Moananui explorers first landed their waka on the shores of Aotearoa. If our ecosystems are unique enough to warrant comparison with extra-terrestrial life, then life in our remote caves must be even more alien. BioHeritage spoke to Anna Stewart, research and conservation coordinator at The New Zealand Speleology Society, about these lightless worlds and how to protect them.

Our borders are open again, and New Zealander’s and tourists are now able to come and go freely. But with freedom comes responsibility: we must all do our part in preventing unwanted organisms and pests from entering the country in luggage and parcels. Find-A-Pest can help.